Latest News and Comment from Education

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Cal Berkeley's Health Plan Lets Down Student, State | California Progress Report

Cal Berkeley's Health Plan Lets Down Student, State | California Progress Report

Cal Berkeley's Health Plan Lets Down Student, State

By Brian Leubitz

Over the weekend, the Wall Street Journal featured an article about student health plans.One of the cases studied was Paula Villescaz, a student at Berkeley and somebody that I have met through my participation in the California Young Democrats. She has been involved with CYD and the College Democrats for a while now, and has really been a rock star of involvement.

Unfortunately, as outlined in the article, when she got sick and actually needed health coverage, Berkeley's student health plan failed her.

Paula Villescaz, a senior at the University of California at Berkeley, says she never looked closely at the Anthem Blue Cross insurance policy she got through her college. The plan has a $400,000 ceiling, but also has some important limitations, as Ms. Villescaz found out recently.

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Latinos Boosting Democratic Voter Enthusiasm

By Randy Shaw

With polls showing Republican gains in November dependent on a depressed Democratic turnout, activists are focusing on mobilizing the Democratic base. Among the most dispirited Democratic constituencies has been Latinos, but the latest weekly tracking poll from Latino Decisions shows Latinos’ positive perceptions of Democrats sharply rising in the wake of the Party’s unsuccessful effort to enact the DREAM act last week. The percentage of Latino voters who felt Democrats were ignoring or blocking immigration reform fell from 61% to 53.8%, and those who felt Democrats were actively working on immigration reform increased from 25% to 30%. This shift reflects a broader “return to the base” Democratic trend caused by a combination of Tea Party successes and President Obama’s increasingly partisan rhetoric to galvanize the Party’s core constituencies. The question is whether this trend has emerged too late.

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Greenlining’s Guide to November Ballot Propositions: Corporations Trying to Buy Our Democracy -- Yet Again

By The Greenlining Institute

NO on Proposition 23 and Dirty Oil

It’s getting to be a depressingly familiar pattern: A ballot crowded with confusing propositions, one or more of which were placed there by corporate interests looking to pad their own pockets at the expense of taxpayers. Here we go again.

Is California Really "Bleeding Jobs"?

The Answer Sheet - The new risk of plagiarizing college essays

The Answer Sheet - The new risk of plagiarizing college essays

The new risk of plagiarizing college essays

We are at the start of a new college admissions cycle, and high school seniors are busy trying to maintain their grades, stay out of trouble, and fill out their college applications. So here’s something anybody writing a college essay should know: There is a technology called Turnitin for Admissions, introduced late last year by iParadigms LLC, that can detect plagiarism in essays from numerous sites on the Internet. It is a version of Turnitin, which is used in thousands of academic institutions around the world to detect plagiarism in academic work.

The Daily Churn: Wednesday | EdNewsColorado

The Daily Churn: Wednesday | EdNewsColorado

The Daily Churn: Wednesday

Daily Churn logoWhat’s churning:

It’s decision day in Las Vegas. By the end of the evening we will know, presumably, whether Colorado will need a new education commissioner. The Clark County, Nev. school board meets beginning at 6:30 p.m. Mountain time to decide who will become the next superintendent of the fast-growing Las Vegas school system. Colorado Education Commissioner Dwight Jones is vying for the job against Dallas Independent School District Superintendent Michael Hinojosa. Check back here frequently this evening for updates, and follow us on Twitterfor minute-by-minute developments.

Far northeast Denver has some of the lowest-performing schools in the city, or for that matter, in the state. Last night, after six months of work, a community committee heard recommendations from the district on how to

City schools, teachers union to end practice of linking pay to years of employment - baltimoresun.com

City schools, teachers union to end practice of linking pay to years of employment - baltimoresun.com

City schools, teachers union to end linking pay to years of employment

Landmark deal could put Baltimore at forefront of education reforms



The Baltimore school district and its teachers union have struck a landmark agreement that would end the longtime practice of linking pay to years of employment and place the city at the forefront of a national reform effort, according to sources familiar with the pact.

The two sides have discussed a pay system that would reward skills and effectiveness and are expected to announce the details of the agreement Wednesday.

Experts in teacher compensation said Baltimore was poised to become one of only a handful of places in the country, including

San Francisco may order ‘sad meals’ — Joanne Jacobs

San Francisco may order ‘sad meals’ — Joanne Jacobs

San Francisco may order ‘sad meals’

San Francisco may ban "happy meals" that come with a toy, unless the meal includes a serving of fruit and vegetables or meets the city's nutritional requirements, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. San Francisco's"sad meals" should include "creepy, insulting and/or humiliating promotional toys with any meal that fails to meet the city’s exacting nutritional guidelines," writes Zombie on Pajamas Media.
* Circular metallic stickers featuring a frowny-face and the words “I’m a fatso!” or “Lard-butt.” Parents will be required to affix the stickers to their children’s foreheads during meals eaten in public. * Wind-up toys which speak any of ten different phrases, including “You’re morbidly

Erica Jacobs: When educational alarm bells ring off-key | Washington Examiner

Erica Jacobs: When educational alarm bells ring off-key | Washington Examiner

Erica Jacobs: When educational alarm bells ring off-key

By: ERICA JACOBS
Examiner Columnist
September 28, 2010

This is the week of “Education Nation” in Rockefeller Center and on NBC News. This national summit on what needs to be done to improve schools in the United States is drawing attention from political leaders (including President Obama) and educational pundits from prekindergarten through university.

What kids are reading

This weekly column looks at lists of books kids are reading in various categories. Information on the books below came from Amazon.com’s list of children’s best-sellers and are listed in order of popularity.

Caldecott Award and Honor Books

1. Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case of Mistaken Identity by Mo Willems (ages 4 to 8)
2. Sector 7 by David Wiesner (ages 4 to 8)
3. Officer Buckle & Gloria by Peggy Rathmann (ages 4 to 8)
4. Crow Boy by Tar Yashima (ages 4 to 8)
5. Owen by Kevin Henkes (baby to preschool)
6. Snow by Uri Shulevitz (baby to preschool)
7. The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg (ages 4 to 8)
8. A Chair for My Mother by Vera Williams (ages 4 to 8)

Education Nation has elicited dire pronouncements including the following: Colin Powell says we have a “dropout crisis,” Obama would not send his daughters to a public school, and Brian Williams tells us we are receiving report cards that put us 20th in the world in mathematics, and show that nearly half all eighth-graders read below grade level. The doom and gloom news keeps coming via live streaming on the NBC Web

site.

All this contrasts sharply with my experience Friday



Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/local/education/Erica-Jacobs-When-educational-alarm-bells-ring-off-key-103958449.html#ixzz10vCdBlFd

Teaching interns illegally rated as qualified- EducationNews.org

Web's #1 Source for K12 and Higher Education News and Commentary - EducationNews.org �������

Teaching interns illegally rated as qualified
9.29.10 - California has violated federal law by classifying thousands of inexperienced, noncredentialed teachers...

Christie proposes changes in how teachers are paid, promoted
9.29.10 - Calling for a new system to "reward excellence in the classroom," Gov. Christie on Tuesday proposed changing how New Jersey public school teachers are paid, retained, and promoted. ...

Signal on D.C. education reform from Gray's camp
9.29.10 - On Sunday, the All Opinions Are Local page of washingtonpost.com ran a commentary by former D.C. Council member Kevin P. Chavous. I am rerunning it because I think it has unusual importance as we look toward the future of D.C. schools under Vincent Gray. ...

4,100 Students Prove 'Small Is Better' Rule Wrong
9.29.0 - SAM DILLON - BROCKTON, Mass. - A decade ago, Brockton High School was a case study in failure. Teachers and administrators often voiced the unofficial school motto in hallway chitchat: students have a right to fail if they want. And many of them did - only a quarter of the students passed statewide exams. One in three dropped out. ...

Commentaries

An Interview with Jeff Gray: Don't Forget Frances
9.29.10 - Michael F. Shaughnessy - Yes, I have just finished my fifth book, Don't Forget Frances, and I'd say that it is probably one of my favorites. I had the privilege of consulting in a handful of schools last fall and as I observed students I recognized many that seemed alone, ignored and/or distraught. My new book is a simple reminder that all of the children entrusted to us are important.

Book Review: Don't Forget Frances
9.29.10 - Michael F. Shaughnessy - In this age of No Child Left Behind, teachers sometimes forget the most important things. Jeff Gray has written a book entitled "Don't Forget Frances". I am not going to talk about Frances, because there are many girls named Frances and there are probably many boys named Francis. We should not forget either of these children.

Reauthorization of the ESEA Demands Less Rhetoric, More Understanding of Research
9.29.10 - BOULDER, CO (September 29, 2010) - As Congress and the Obama administration prepare to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), high-quality research is not informing the process. In May, the U.S. Department of Education released six research summaries in support of its "Blueprint for Reform" -

Mandatory Rape Lecture for Male Freshmen at Hamilton College
9.29.10 - Ashley Thorne - Male freshmen will be instructed tonight by "a national leader in social justice and sustainability education."

Bravo Brockton!
9.29.10 - Chester E. Finn, Jr. - Brockton High School is one of the largest in America and is now producing very strong (not yet stellar) results. More remarkably, it used to produce dreadful results. It exemplifies a successful school turnaround, one of the toughest feats in U.S. education, it exemplifies success in an urban high school attended mainly by poor and minority kids-the other toughest challenge in U.S. education.

News: For-Profits Battle on Many Fronts - Inside Higher Ed

News: For-Profits Battle on Many Fronts - Inside Higher Ed

For-Profits Battle on Many Fronts

Sector turns to ads, rallies and big Washington names to fight Congress and the Obama administration.

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You're Not No. 1

The long-awaited rankings of doctoral programs -- years late and denying anyone the chance to claim top spot (or any precise spot) -- are out. While some are excited about the data, many are pummeling the ratings.

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Searching For Better Research Habits

Teaching students how to do Google-style research might not be as harmful to research habits as the alternative.

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Who's Teaching the Teachers?

A new report comes to bleak conclusions about most teacher educators' views on their profession and school reform, but some take issue with the research.

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